Locking lever feeding means



Oct. 19, 1948. H. A. RAU

LOCKING LEVER FEEDING MEANS Original Filed Aug. 5, 1940 Harry alRaa,

fatented Oct. 19, 1948 Ha rylyA. Ran, Baltimore, Md.,} assign or to Crown l t 1 Cork Specialty;Corporation Dec atnr,Ill a car i neration of Illinois Original application august 3; @1940,- Serial No.

117. wllividedaml this application February 27215 4 er akNo. 477,

fflfhe present invention relates toa capforming and-assembling machine. v .The present-caseis a division of myloriginal application for Looking lever feeding meanswhi-ch'issuedias Patent No. 2339,80? on January 25:, 1,944;

The invention disclosed herein adaptedfor use with a machine of the type disclosed inimy saidypaten't, ,vi'z l a machine for formin r m a substantially ;oval. and cupped blank provided with projecting ears .a "completed .cape of for is particulary the type.disrl s.ed.inth p tent.tcQarLMcQuinn,

for. o in speuttand closure; o.21 1216 13 i sued Au us .v9;.,,1'9. @A lcom nleted' can, for thea dv tripe includes ,a nivoted locking lever to. enable the 9 tube firmly-clamped, upon a container mouth and the presentyapparatnsincli des mea s te semblevsuchla lockingj leve with the cap, blank; An, object o theinve ion-istoip ovidegvarieu i pro ed means fo feedin lockin lever {to a m n icfwth above en ral'type.

O h objects and dvanta es ,-.of.' theliin t n win, be apparent from are Q l l ll'g. drawin s; wherein: g

, i'eu is. a vertical sect onalyiewt roughthe locking lever feedfchilb thejloWei-po'rtibn of fthe i wshewinethe; oute .en i i the aplsinal verinls erting station. Figure 2 .isa perspective view *o'f'thelocking lever feed control;

Figure 3 is atgdisassemhled viempathe mechanism of Figure 2'. n Fig ure is i a transverse vertical sectional view on the line 4--4 of Figure 1, and t i a i re a is anenla jaed diagrammatic view of a portion of Figurel.

The device of the pi'es'rit invention may 'be generally describedas cemprising a supply chute 3l5 (Figure 1) -forthe locking levers which-is controlled by a gate-device-3 l6 (seealso Figure 2) to"deliver"locking-leversone aha-time to a reciprocab le i-eedingelementfl suc-h as disclosed in my-said patent. Theieeding element 3 ll conducts each locking-leverto the cap'blank whichis at that time supported upon the feeding'element 31 1;. When the lever is in proper position with respect :tost'he arms -ofthe cap' blank these arms are bent inwardlysby horizontally reciprocating xReierring to. Figure. 1, the supply chute-3 I is suitably supported. from the base of the machine .,and; comprises at chute or trough element 315 which, as best shown in Figure 4, is U-shaped in vertical section and includes upstanding walls 326 and 321. Considered longitudinally, the chute 315 disclosed herein comprises an infeed end 32-8 f1 ed to v 2 t t which isinclined downwardly at a sufiicient angle to. cause the locking levers toslide downwardly alongv the samesand thenia more steeply angled middle section 329 and, finally, an outfeed portion 330' which is initially still more steeply inclined than the. portion 329, but'has its downward end curvedso that locking levers will be upright, that is, willil'ie inja vertical p1ane',when they! move from thesame into, the reciprocable feeding element3l'l'.

'I'l ie'tf eedvcontrol device 3TB. is positioned at the lOWer portionfioffthe middle section329ofthe chute. From the feedcontroldevice 3 l 6 upward- 1y, toa point a slightfidistancelfromth'e extreme upper end of the chute, e chute side wall '326is y t o 7 h .theiouterlsurface of'the wall, the @plate having an overhanging upper edge 334 spacedja suibstan-tiardistance above the top edge of chute wet-11325. 'The' opposite' chute wa1l32'l has a plate 335"'spaced above its top edge", which plate extends inwardlyrover the chute tofa point's'lightlypast the inner surface of chute wall 321. Plate 335 is carried upon suitable brackets indicated at a 336 and the extr e upper en'd-of'plate, 33ers downwardly inclined toward the upper surface of chute wa1l'3-2l as indicated at 335a in Figure 1. i -By-the above arrangement, an o'peratorrnay drop locking levers C2into the upper end of chute 3I5j it only'being necessaryfior the operator to place the shankci the lockihg levers downwardly in the c'hute and with the trunnion-portion of the levers nearest the chiite wall 326;which wall is innermost with'respect tothe machine. Locking levers thus .placedin the 'chute'wil-l slide downwardly so that their cam por-tions Cl [will ride up the inclined 'upper-fend 335a of plate 335 to rest or hang on thatplateasshown in Figure 4. The inner surf ace of theechute wall 321 will then con tact'with the arched portion C l 2of the shank anf the hump Cl3 of the lever will" contact with t1; e innensurface of the plate 333. it Since each lever hanging upon the pl-ate 335 by its upper-portion,

i-tszshank C14" will, by it-s -own weight; swingvery slightly in a counterclockwise direction as viewed inz=Figu-rer5 so thath asindicated in that figure, thedownwardlysdiretztedtrunnion lug C3 will ride upi upon the upwardly 'idirected: trunnion: lug C3 of the preceding locking'leverin the chute. Thus, theiladj acen-t?locking;leverslwill"have the relationshipsshown .in Figure 5-,that is, with each locking lever having its dcwnward trunnion nested above the upper trunnion of the preceding locking lever.

The stop mechanism 3S6 comprises a pair of horizontal arms 34D and 34!, respectively, provided at the lower outer edge of the arm 34 The shank 342 iii arm 340 moves in a vertical groove 348 in the downwardly facing wall of the block; 344 as indicated in Figure 3, this groove being normally closed bya plate 348d as shown' in Figure 2. The arm 340-itself extends along a horizontal groove 34! in the top surface of the block 344. downwardly through a chute wall 321, the arm 34! normally being pa tially within this groove as indicated inFigure 2. J The two arms 340 and 34! are urged to down- .ward positions in block 344 by coil springs 350 connected to the lower endsfof their shanks and the arms are automatically raised by the engage ment of rocker arms-35! extending in opposite directions from a rock shaft 352, the rocker arm's being adapted to have their upper surfaces al-' ternately engage pins 353 projecting from the shanks 342 and 343 as indicated in Figure 3. v As best indicated in Figure 1, the arms 340 and 34! are spaced a sufficient distance'-.-apart along the chute 3!5 to permit a lockinglever C2 to be positioned between the same, However, it will be noted that the-trunnions C3 of the lock-' ing lever may extend. beneath the arms 340 and 34! so that actually only the body portion of the locking lever will be positioned between the two arms. In ,any event, when thelowermost arm 34! is in the downward position illustrated in Figure 1, it-xwill hold the entire lineof locking levers against downward movement in the chute 3!5. However, when the upper arm 34!) moves down against the upper surface of the chute and the lower arm 34! rises, the lowermost. locking lever C2- will slide on down through the section 330 of the chute while arm 340 holds the remaining locking levers against movement. Then when arm 340 rises and arm 34! drops, the line oflocking levers will move downwardlyto-position the lowermost locking lever against arm- 34!. The rock shaft 352 which "actuates the locking lever gate devices Band 34! is operated from the heating device 3!!, as described and shown in my'said patent; In Figure 3, the turning movement thus given the rock shaft 352 has roe tated the latter a short distance in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 3, so that the upper arm 34!! of the gate device 3!6 has been; lifted and the lowerarm 34! has been permitted to lower by the action of its spring 350. The line f locking levers will thu move down against t e lower arm 34!. I ;On subsequent following outward movement of the feed device 3l1, shaft 352 will be rotated in the direction indicated by'the arrow in Figure 2, so that the lower arm 34! of gate device 3l6 will be raised and the upper arm 34!] will be lowered. As a result, the locking lever which has been hearing against the lower arm 34! will slide beneath the latter'and down the supply chute'3l5 onto the fixed jaw 386 of the feed device 3! 1. The remaining locking levers will, of course, be stopped by upper arm 340.

isaiidface is adapted to hang, said ledge over- The-shank 343 of arm 34'! extendsa groove 349 which faces the The terminology used in the specification is' for the purpose of description and not of limita tion, the scope of the invention being set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1 ler-ln'" an apparatus rffdr? assembling? with cap blanks locking levers providedwith a shank and a face portion arranged substantially at right "angles to said shank, a chute U shaped in cress= section to provide a vertical groove, said chute including a ledge on one upper edge upon which hanging the vertical groove in the chute, the wall of said chute opposite said ledge being so posi- 'itioned'with respect to said ledge as to hold said ace portion on the ledge.

2. In an apparatus for assembling with can blanks locking levers provided with a shank and a face portion arranged substantially at right angles to said shank, a chute U-shaped in crosssection to provide a vertical groove, said chute fhcluding a ledge on one upper edge upon which said face is adapted tohang, saidledge'over; hanging the vertical. groove of the chute, the wall of said chute opposite' said ledge being so positioned with respect to said ledge as to hold said face portion on the ledge, saidledge being spacedabove said chute throughout the major portion of its lengthbut being inclined toward the chute at its upper andinfeed portion.

,1 3. In an. apparatus of the class describedg-an inclined U-shapedchutefor articles, said chute having its trough facing upwardly, a pair of elements spaced apart lengthwise of the chute, each of said elements including a horizontal arm extending across and above .the troughand a depending arm extending alongside thechute, a block in which said depending arms are vertically slidable, said depending arms being spaced in said block in. a direction transversely of said chute; spring means" to urge said elements downwardly in said block so that their horizontal arms will be adjacent the trough to hold articles against movement, androcking means extending between said depending armstoalternately lift. said elenients so th'at articles may move'beneath their horizontal arms. HARRY A. RAUL. 2

"REFERENCES CITED f The following references are of record in the file of this patent; i o

1 UNITED'STATES PATENTS- Rau Jan. 25, 1944 Certificate 1 of Correction Patent No. 2,451,974. October 19, 1948.

HARRY A. RAU It is hereby certified that errors appear in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows:

Column 1, lines 1 and 2, for cap forming and assembling machine read locking leverfeedingmeans; lines 3 and 4, for Locking lever feeding means read capforming and assemblmg machines;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 3rd day of May, A. D. 1949.

THOMAS F. MURPHY,

Assistant Oommz'ssz'oner of Patents. 

